Crystal Palace

American Josh Harris nearing £90m Crystal Palace takeover?

By Joe Fish, Reporter | 13 March 2015

A consortium headed by American businessman and Philadelphia 76s owner Josh Harris is apparently close to completing a £90m takeover of Crystal Palace.

American businessman Josh Harris is believed to be in the advanced stages of negotiations over a proposed £90m takeover of Crystal Palace.

The owner of NBA's Philadelphia 76ers and co-owner of NHL's New Jersey Devils is heading a consortium that are intent on buying the Premier League club.

Discussions with Palace chairman Steve Parish apparently began during last year's pre-season tour of the United States and have continued intermittently ever since.

The Financial Times reports that Harris's representatives from Apollo Global Management and Blackstone, the world's largest private equity firm, are optimistic that the deal could be signed in the next few days.

The investment of Harris and his Devils partner David Blitzer would come alongside that of David Novak, Bret Pearlman, Marc Leder, Arthur Wrubel, Anthony Ignaczak, Rodgers Krouse and Matthew Hulsizer and would see Parish, who helped rescue the Eagles from administration in 2010, reduce his stake in the club to 15%.

Harris is worth a reported $2.6bn, according to Forbes, and has reportedly been following Palace's progress throughout the season in which they climbed away from relegation trouble to 12th in the table under Alan Pardew.